Efficient usage of internet services on mobile devices

ABSTRACT

Communications systems including multiple computer devices where: (i) for a set of computer devices, used by a common user, it is determined which computer device the user is most actively using; and (ii) an operational mode of a “wireless service” (see definition, below) on one of the other computer devices (that is, a non-most-active computer device) is changed in its operational mode. For example, if a user has two smart phones and the user&#39;s first smart phone is determined to be more active than the second smart phone, then on the second smart phone (that is, the non-most-active computer device) a social media home page updating service is turned off. In some embodiments, the change from first operational mode to second operational mode will mean that wireless transceiver hardware (such as an antenna) is turned off for the non-most-active device(s).

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the use of “wirelessservices” (see definition, below, in Definitions sub-section of theDetailed Description section), such as “internet services” (seedefinition, below, in Definitions sub-section of the DetailedDescription section) by “computer devices” (see definition of“computer”, below, in Definitions sub-section of the DetailedDescription section), and situations where a single individual personuses wireless services on more than one computer device, in a seriesmanner and/or at the same time.

Many computer devices are mobile because they include a built-in powersource (typically a battery) and the ability to communicate wirelesslywith the internet. It is known that wireless communication, with amobile battery-powered device contributes to battery drain in the mobilecomputer device. It is further understood that a greater number ofrunning internet services leads to faster draining of the battery of thebattery-powered mobile computer device, and, accordingly, a necessity torecharge the battery of the battery-powered mobile computer devicesooner relative to a situation where fewer internet services wererunning on the battery-powered mobile computer device.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is a method,computer program product and/or system for use with a plurality ofcomputer devices including a first computer device running a firstwireless service and a second computer device that performs thefollowing operations (not necessarily in the following order): (i)receiving first activity level information corresponding to a level of auser's activity on the first computer device; (ii) receiving secondactivity level information corresponding to a level of the user'sactivity on the second computer device; (iii) determining which deviceof the plurality of computer devices is the most active based, at leastin part, upon the first activity level information and the secondactivity level information; and/or (iv) on condition that the secondcomputer device is determined to be the most active, sending a commandto change an operational mode of the first wireless service from a firstoperational mode to a second operational mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram view of a first embodiment of a systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment method performed, atleast in part, by the first embodiment system; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a machine logic (for example,software) portion of the first embodiment system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In some embodiments of the present invention: (i) for a set of computerdevices, used by a common user, it is determined which computer devicethe user is most actively using; and (ii) an operational mode of a“wireless service” (see definition, below) on one of the other computerdevices (that is, a non-most-active computer device) is changed in itsoperational mode. For example, if a user has two smart phones and theuser's first smart phone is determined to be more active than the secondsmart phone, then on the second smart phone (that is, thenon-most-active computer device) a social media home page updatingservice is turned off. In some embodiments, the change from firstoperational mode to second operational mode will mean that wirelesstransceiver hardware (such as an antenna) is turned off for thenon-most-active device(s). In some embodiments, the change from firstoperational mode to second operational mode will mean that the wirelesstransceiver hardware stays turned on, but that fewer (or more) wirelesscommunications are sent through the wireless transceiver hardware.

This Detailed Description section is divided into the followingsub-sections: (i) The Hardware and Software Environment; (ii) ExampleEmbodiment; (iii) Further Comments and/or Embodiments; and (iv)Definitions.

I. The Hardware and Software Environment

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

An embodiment of a possible hardware and software environment forsoftware and/or methods according to the present invention will now bedescribed in detail with reference to the Figures. FIG. 1 is afunctional block diagram illustrating various portions of networkedcomputers system 100, including: server sub-system 102; wireless mobilephone 104; wireless tablet computer 106; desktop computer 108; wirelesslaptop computer 110; communication network 114; server computer 200;communication unit 202; processor set 204; input/output (I/O) interfaceset 206; memory device 208; persistent storage device 210; displaydevice 212; external devices set 214; random access memory (RAM) devices230; cache memory device 232; and program 300. It is noted that: (i)wireless mobile phone 104, wireless tablet computer 106, desktopcomputer 108 and wireless laptop computer 110 form a set of “computerdevices” (see definition of “computer,” below); and (ii) wireless mobilephone 104, wireless tablet computer 106, and wireless laptop computer110 are all battery powered mobile devices (although desktop computer108 is not).

Server sub-system 102 is, in many respects, representative of thevarious computer sub-system(s) in the present invention. Accordingly,several portions of sub-system 102 will now be discussed in thefollowing paragraphs.

Sub-system 102 may be a laptop computer, tablet computer, netbookcomputer, personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a smart phone, or any programmable electronic devicecapable of communicating with the client sub-systems via network 114.Program 300 is a collection of machine readable instructions and/or datathat is used to create, manage and control certain software functionsthat will be discussed in detail, below, in the Example Embodimentsub-section of this Detailed Description section.

Sub-system 102 is capable of communicating with other computersub-systems via network 114. Network 114 can be, for example, a localarea network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, or acombination of the two, and can include wired, wireless, or fiber opticconnections. In general, network 114 can be any combination ofconnections and protocols that will support communications betweenserver and client sub-systems.

Sub-system 102 is shown as a block diagram with many double arrows.These double arrows (no separate reference numerals) represent acommunications fabric, which provides communications between variouscomponents of sub-system 102. This communications fabric can beimplemented with any architecture designed for passing data and/orcontrol information between processors (such as microprocessors,communications and network processors, etc.), system memory, peripheraldevices, and any other hardware components within a system. For example,the communications fabric can be implemented, at least in part, with oneor more buses.

Memory 208 and persistent storage 210 are computer-readable storagemedia. In general, memory 208 can include any suitable volatile ornon-volatile computer-readable storage media. It is further noted that,now and/or in the near future: (i) external device(s) 214 may be able tosupply, some or all, memory for sub-system 102; and/or (ii) devicesexternal to sub-system 102 may be able to provide memory for sub-system102.

Program 300 is stored in persistent storage 210 for access and/orexecution by one or more of the respective computer processors 204,usually through one or more memories of memory 208. Persistent storage210: (i) is at least more persistent than a signal in transit; (ii)stores the program (including its soft logic and/or data), on a tangiblemedium (such as magnetic or optical domains); and (iii) is substantiallyless persistent than permanent storage. Alternatively, data storage maybe more persistent and/or permanent than the type of storage provided bypersistent storage 210.

Program 300 may include both machine readable and performableinstructions and/or substantive data (that is, the type of data storedin a database). In this particular embodiment, persistent storage 210includes a magnetic hard disk drive. To name some possible variations,persistent storage 210 may include a solid state hard drive, asemiconductor storage device, read-only memory (ROM), erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, or any othercomputer-readable storage media that is capable of storing programinstructions or digital information.

The media used by persistent storage 210 may also be removable. Forexample, a removable hard drive may be used for persistent storage 210.Other examples include optical and magnetic disks, thumb drives, andsmart cards that are inserted into a drive for transfer onto anothercomputer-readable storage medium that is also part of persistent storage210.

Communications unit 202, in these examples, provides for communicationswith other data processing systems or devices external to sub-system102. In these examples, communications unit 202 includes one or morenetwork interface cards. Communications unit 202 may providecommunications through the use of either or both physical and wirelesscommunications links. Any software modules discussed herein may bedownloaded to a persistent storage device (such as persistent storagedevice 210) through a communications unit (such as communications unit202).

I/O interface set 206 allows for input and output of data with otherdevices that may be connected locally in data communication with servercomputer 200. For example, I/O interface set 206 provides a connectionto external device set 214. External device set 214 will typicallyinclude devices such as a keyboard, keypad, a touch screen, and/or someother suitable input device. External device set 214 can also includeportable computer-readable storage media such as, for example, thumbdrives, portable optical or magnetic disks, and memory cards. Softwareand data used to practice embodiments of the present invention, forexample, program 300, can be stored on such portable computer-readablestorage media. In these embodiments the relevant software may (or maynot) be loaded, in whole or in part, onto persistent storage device 210via I/O interface set 206. I/O interface set 206 also connects in datacommunication with display device 212.

Display device 212 provides a mechanism to display data to a user andmay be, for example, a computer monitor or a smart phone display screen.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

II. Example Embodiment

FIG. 2 shows flowchart 250 depicting a method according to the presentinvention. FIG. 3 shows program 300 for performing at least some of themethod operations of flowchart 250. This method and associated softwarewill now be discussed, over the course of the following paragraphs, withextensive reference to FIG. 2 (for the method operation blocks) and FIG.3 (for the software blocks).

Processing begins at operation S255, where activity level module (“mod”)302 receives information relating to computer device activity level fora set of computer devices. In this example, the computer devices aremobile phone 104, tablet computer 106, desktop computer 108 and laptopcomputer 110, and all devices of the set have been designated as beingdevices used only by a single user. In this example, the activity levelinformation is sent from each device in the computer device set, throughnetwork 114, to mod 302. In this example, the activity level informationincludes information such as: (i) whether the computer device is on oroff; (ii) whether the computer device is sleeping or hibernating; (iii)how much time has elapsed since the user has provided user input to therespective computer device; (iv) the amount of discrete user inputs overthe preceding 15 minutes; (v) a low battery condition; and/or (vi) anyinformation indicative of computer device activity level now known or tobe developed in the future.

Processing proceed to operation S260, where most-active mod 304determines, based on the activity level information previously receivedat operation S255, as follows: (i) the most active device in the set ofdevices 104, 106, 108, 110; and (ii) the non-most-active-devices in theset of devices 104, 106, 108, 110. In this embodiment the machine logicrules (not separately shown) of mod 304 are written so that only asingle device can be most-active, and all of the other computer devicesof the set are designated as non-most-active. Alternatively, in someembodiments, more than one computer device may be selected formost-active status.

Processing proceeds to operation S265, where operational mode mod 306adjusts operational modes of wireless services of the non-most-activedevices of computer device set 104, 106, 108, 110. More specifically:(i) machine logic based rules 310 of mod 306 determine whether and howto adjust the various wireless services running on the non-most activedevices; and (ii) appropriate commands are sent, through network 114, inorder to effect the changes in each non-most-active device. As a simpleexample, the wireless antenna of a non-most active device may be changedfrom a first operation mode of “on” to a second operational mode of off.In this example, it is transceiver hardware that is changed inoperational mode. In other examples, the change in operational mode willbe limited to a change in how software operates (for example, changingfrom a first operational mode where an email type wireless serviceupdates every ten (10) seconds to a second operational mode where theemail type wireless service updates every ten (10) minutes). The FurtherComments And/Or Embodiments sub-section, below, has further examples ofspecific ways to change operational modes of wireless services.

Often, the change in operational mode will cause there to be fewer (orno) wireless communications to/from the non-most active device, whichcan save energy (which is especially helpful in mobile, battery poweredcomputer devices). Alternatively, the operational change may causeadditional wireless communications and/or communication related energyconsumption. For example, a large media upload being performed by aninternet service type of wireless service may be controlled to proceedat a higher data transfer rate when the associated device is one of thenon-most-active devices.

Some different types of wireless services include the following: a nearfield communications (NFC) type wireless service; a wireless telephoneservice; other telephony services; an internet service; any wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) type service based on the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (as of Jul.27, 2015); a global positioning system (GPS) type service; an AM(amplitude modulated) type radio service; an FM (frequency modulated)type radio service; and broadcast television. Some “wireless services”merely control transceiver hardware—these are typically changed inoperational mode by turning the transceiver hardware between on, offand/or sleep modes. Other “wireless services” (for example, internetservices) do not relate much to transceiver hardware, but rather cause,control and/or facilitate wireless communications being made from and/orto the computer device.

III. Further Comments and/or Embodiments

Some embodiments of the present invention recognize the following facts,potential problems and/or potential areas for improvement with respectto the current state of the art: (i) typically, when a single individualperson runs internet services on multiple devices belonging to him,there are unneeded, redundant data transfers; (ii) the redundant datatransfers referred to in the previous item cause unnecessary mobile ISUdevice battery drain, unnecessarily decrease the serviceable lifetime ofa battery charge and can decrease the length of battery life due to ahigher rate of battery charge/discharge cycling; (iii) existing apps orsolutions do not necessarily consider maximizing battery life, nor dothey minimize battery drain while providing access to internet services;(iv) there is even greater impact under conditions where a mobile devicehas a very low energy storage capacity battery; (v) solutions to theforegoing items that require an individual person to manually shut offinternet services on mobile devices not being used require theindividual person to take the time and attention required to manuallyswitch off internet services on mobile devices that are not currentlybeing used; (vi) conventional solutions lack intelligent methods toaccess internet services from a mobile device when there are alternateways available to access “internet services” (see definition, below, inthe Definitions sub-section of this Detailed Description section);and/or (vii) conventional solutions lack intelligent methods to provideefficient battery use among and between multiple ISU devices being usedby a single individual person (for example, being used in series by asingle individual over time).

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, ofthe following features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i) usersaccess a mobile application's metadata (notifications snapshot) throughan alternative device (for example a laptop or desktop computer) wherethe metadata allows the user to quickly understand the nature and/orimportance of the underlying data without looking at the data; (ii)automatically and/or selectively enables internet service on the mobiledevice, based on the nature and/or importance of the data; (iii) pushesnotifications to a user's private cloud account as well, so that thenotifications can be accessed from any of the user's internet enableddevices; (iv) selectively disables or enables wireless service on amobile device; (v) efficiently uses the mobile device's battery therebyextending the battery life; and/or (vi) implements a power savingapplication or feature, for example as part of a mobile device operatingsystem (OS).

Some embodiments of the present invention may further include one, ormore, of the following features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i)using a special option on the mobile device, power saving mode on themobile device can be enabled by avoiding redundant access of internetfrom multiple devices; (ii) using a special option on the mobile device,a user will get access only to notifications and retrieving the actualdata is disabled; (iii) dynamically enabling internet access on a mobiledevice based on private cloud login information; (iv) dynamicallyenabling internet access on a mobile device based on the batterystrength of the device through which the cloud account is beingcurrently logged in; (v) pushing notifications to the cloud and showingnotifications according to the criticality of associated messages; (vi)tagging each notification with criticality, date, time and origin; (vii)giving a user a unique id which is used by an application server to pushnotifications to user's private cloud; and/or (viii) giving a user anoption, in the mobile device, to selectively enable pushingnotifications to the cloud for each app.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the presence of anotherbattery powered device belonging to a user can be detected by the user'scloud account, based on recent logged-in status. The user's cloudaccount has a list of notifications from each application running on themobile device. Notifications apply to various applications including,but not limited to, for example: emails, text messaging, game scores,voice over IP (VOIP) calls, social networking updates, and/or rich sitesummary (RSS) feeds. Notifications help a user to get a quick glance atthe latest happenings in their mobile personal data. Access tonotifications or metadata of mobile personal data helps the user to takeappropriate actions in response.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, ofthe following features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i)applications send push notifications to the user's private cloud accountin addition to the mobile application server (such as a socialnetworking server); (ii) each push notification is relatively small whencompared to the data associated with the notification; (iii) the user'scloud account is authenticated by username and password; and/or (iv)each notification is metadata associated with the actual data, includingattributes (for example, criticality, origin, date and time). Theseattributes are explained in the following paragraphs:

Criticality attributes can be pre-defined by a user of a mobile device.Criticality is specific to each application on the mobile device. Forexample, in an email application in some embodiments of the presentinvention, a user can define emails from some senders as critical.Hence, if an email from a critical sender is received, it is prominentlyshown and/or highlighted in the notification list.

Origin is a name of a place or sender from where or whom the messageoriginated. For example, in some embodiments of the present invention,if an email is received from a known originator, the origin is theoriginator's name. Alternatively, if a phone call from an unknown numberis missed, the origin may be the location, or some other aspectassociated with the caller.

Date and time, in some embodiments of the present invention, indicatewhen a message was sent. Alternatively, date and time may indicate whenthe message was received.

In some embodiments of the present invention, notifications are sortedaccording to criticality, origin, and/or date and time. Since thenotifications are in the cloud, they can be accessed from any devicewith internet access. A user responds to any notification as theychoose. Responses can involve, for example, placing a telephone call,sending an email message, browsing a particular multimedia web page,accessing a particular web application, sending an instant message, etc.

Further power-saving modes implemented by a mobile device OS, in someembodiments of the present invention include “notification-only mode”and “single-device mode”. In notification-only mode, the mobile deviceOS displays only notifications, and does not receive the actual datawhen, for example, its corresponding notification is selected forviewing. Notification-only mode is useful, for example, in low-batteryconditions. In single-device mode, if a mobile device determines thatits user's cloud account is logged in from another device, internetservices are automatically disabled on the mobile device.

In some embodiments of the present invention: (i) a user's cloud accountreceives notifications from applications to which the user hassubscribed or has installed in one or more devices; (ii) the user signsin to the cloud account using a first device, (mobile or otherwise);(iii) an application or the operating system (OS) on a second (mobile)device detects that the user is logged into the cloud account from afirst device; (iv) the second device enters a power saving mode by, forexample, switching off its wireless services; (v) the second mobiledevice powers off other application(s) and/or makes them run only on thecloud account; (vi) metadata (or notifications) that each applicationsends is displayed on the first device; (vii) the user takes appropriateactions by assessing the importance of the metadata, (where possibleactions include manually enabling wireless service on the first orsecond device to access the actual data); and/or (viii) if the userlocks or shuts down the second mobile device, the second mobile devicemay have an application or feature which continues to ping the cloudaccount whereupon after detecting that the cloud account is no longerbeing accessed from the first device, enables wireless service on thesecond mobile device (to operate in the regular mode).

In some embodiments of the present invention, software running on afirst device communicates to a second device that the first device is nolonger accessing the cloud account. The first device OS checks whetherit can enable the internet service on the second device. The seconddevice OS enables the wireless service and checks whether the cloudaccount is being accessed from any other device belonging to the user.If the user's cloud account is being accessed from another devicebelonging to the user, the second device switches off its wirelessservices. If the cloud account is not being accessed from another devicebelonging to the user, the second device keeps its wireless servicesrunning. If the user again logs in to the cloud account using the firstdevice, the second device is notified and enables its power saving modewhich includes switching off its wireless services.

IV. Definitions

Present invention: should not be taken as an absolute indication thatthe subject matter described by the term “present invention” is coveredby either the claims as they are filed, or by the claims that mayeventually issue after patent prosecution; while the term “presentinvention” is used to help the reader to get a general feel for whichdisclosures herein are believed to potentially be new, thisunderstanding, as indicated by use of the term “present invention,” istentative and provisional and subject to change over the course ofpatent prosecution as relevant information is developed and as theclaims are potentially amended.

Embodiment: see definition of “present invention” above—similar cautionsapply to the term “embodiment.”

and/or: inclusive or; for example, A, B “and/or” C means that at leastone of A or B or C is true and applicable.

Including/include/includes: unless otherwise explicitly noted, means“including but not necessarily limited to.”

User/subscriber: includes, but is not necessarily limited to, thefollowing: (i) a single individual human; (ii) an artificialintelligence entity with sufficient intelligence to act as a user orsubscriber; and/or (iii) a group of related users or subscribers.

Data communication: any sort of data communication scheme now known orto be developed in the future, including wireless communication, wiredcommunication and communication routes that have wireless and wiredportions; data communication is not necessarily limited to: (i) directdata communication; (ii) indirect data communication; and/or (iii) datacommunication where the format, packetization status, medium, encryptionstatus and/or protocol remains constant over the entire course of thedata communication.

Module/Sub-Module: any set of hardware, firmware and/or software thatoperatively works to do some kind of function, without regard to whetherthe module is: (i) in a single local proximity; (ii) distributed over awide area; (iii) in a single proximity within a larger piece of softwarecode; (iv) located within a single piece of software code; (v) locatedin a single storage device, memory or medium; (vi) mechanicallyconnected; (vii) electrically connected; and/or (viii) connected in datacommunication.

Computer and computer device: any device with significant dataprocessing and/or machine readable instruction reading capabilitiesincluding, but not limited to: desktop computers, mainframe computers,laptop computers, field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based devices,smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), body-mounted orinserted computers, embedded device style computers,application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) based devices.

Internet service: any set of machine logic (for example, a softwareprogram) running on a computer device that communicates with remotecomputer device(s) through the internet.

Wireless service: any hardware and/or software that makes, facilitatesand/or controls wireless communications made by a computer device.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for use with a first computer device ofa first user and a second computer device of the first user, the methodcomprising: running a wireless service on the first computer device;receiving, by the wireless service, first battery level informationincluding information indicating a low battery condition of the firstcomputer device; receiving, by the wireless service, second batterylevel information including information indicating that the secondcomputer device is not in a low battery condition; and sending, by thewireless service, a command to switch the wireless service from runningon the first computer device to running on the second computer devicebased upon the first battery level information and the second batterylevel information; wherein: the first battery level information isdifferent than the second battery level information; the first batterylevel information and the second battery level information relate to twodifferent batteries.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein: the firstcomputer device is a battery powered mobile device; and the secondcomputer device is a battery powered mobile device.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the switch of the wireless service from running on thefirst computer device to running the second computer device causes areduction in a number of wireless communications between the firstcomputer device and the wireless service, thereby preserving batterylife of the first computer device while it is in low battery condition.4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the wireless service is an internetservice; and the internet service includes at least one of the followingtypes of internet services: email, rich site summary (RSS) feeds, socialnetworking updates, texting applications that use internet connections,instant messaging service, internet telephony applications, internetprovider services, internet based media editing, web browsing, and/ormultimedia uploading or downloading.
 5. The method of claim 1 whereinthe switching of the wireless service from running on the first computerdevice to the second computer device includes shutting off wirelesstransceiver hardware of the first computer device.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the wireless service is a cloud account of the firstuser.